South Korean court approves arrest of Samsung heir
The Seoul Central District Court decided to issue a warrant to arrest Lee Jae-yong, 48, a vice chairman at Samsung Electronics and the only son of Samsung chair Lee Ku n -h ee.
Lee was waiting for the decision at a detention center near Seoul overnight after a closed-door court hearing that lasted more than seven hours on Thursday. He was taken into custody while Park Sang-jin, a president at Samsung Electronics overseeing external relations, was rel eased .
Local media reported that Lee was sent to solitary confinement. The detention center declined to comment, saying it cannot give out private details.
The court dismissed prosecutors' request to arrest Park saying that it was difficult to justify Park's arrest given his position and role within the company.
The arrest of Samsung's de facto leader will likely shock the business community and cheer the critics of chaebol, the South Korean family-controlled business conglomerates that dominate the eco n o m y.
The court said additional evidence showed there were enough reasons to take Lee into custody. Prosecutors can detain him for up to 20 days before formally indicting him.
Samsung said it will continue to defend itself in court.
"We will do our best to ensure that the truth is revealed in future court proceedings," it said in a statement.
Lee avoided arrest last month when the court said prosecutors did not have enough evidence. The special prosecution team, probing the influence-peddling scandal that led to the impeachment of the country's president, said they had gathered more evidence to strengthen their case and made a second request.
The 48-year-old Lee being was groomed to succeed his father at the top of South Korea's largest business empire founded by his grandfather. He had taken a bigger leadership role in recent years after the elder Lee fell ill in 2014. Though the ailing Samsung chair was convicted before, the 75-year-old has never spent time in prison.
Prosecutors accused Lee of giving bribes worth $36 million to President Park Geun-hye and her close friend Choi Soon-sil to win government favors for a smooth company leadership transition.
They are also investigating Lee on allegations of embezzlement of Samsung funds, hiding assets overseas and lying under oath during a parliamentary hearing.
The court decision could also help the prosecution team bring bribery charges against President Park Geunhye whose powers were suspended in December by parliament. She is awaiting a decision by the Constitutional Court on whether she will be permanently removed from the p r esi d en cy.
Samsung was the biggest donor among dozens of South Korean companies that donated a total of nearly $70 million to two nonprofit foundations controlled by Choi, the president's friend. It also transferred millions of euros to Choi's company in Germany that financed equestrian training of her daughter and funded money to a winter sports center operated by her niece.
Samsung has denied that it offered bribes or sought any wrongful favors from the president. ( AP)